Flip Flops

Quilting Possibilities

Sunday, May 8, 2011

What do you do on Mother's Day? We generally pick a yard project and get our children (free labor!) to help. It's a tradition we started when they were in school and couldn't afford presents. We've dug stumps, put in gardens, painted, moved 14 tons of stones, put in a pond - all kinds of fun things. It's worked out really well but they're getting older now and have caught on that it would be much easier to just buy me something! I love that we're all together. This year we're tackling the front gardens.

So Jim, Nathan and I headed out to the Hallock's farm on Thursday to stock up. They have 30,000 square feet of greenhouses to wander through. The riot of colors is amazing. Nathan wasn't sure about the whole thing but he was out for the day, so he was happy. Jim gets his tomato plants so he's happy. I was in heaven. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE that first step into the nursery - summer IS coming!

We came home with the back of the truck loaded. The grand plan for today is to get everything in pots and in the ground since we leave for Quilt Market on Wed. We'll see how much gets done!

The beds look great but underneath that mulch almost 30 years of composting, mulching and feeding the soil is gone - replaced with whatever they backfilled with after construction of the new porch and ramp. UGH. I tried planting the daffodils from the pots and three inches down hit hard pack. Double UGH.

I have my fingers crossed that all my garden soil is underneath this mulch on the side. We'll have to dig carefully around my oldest's lilac tree - planted for him the year he was born. I dug it up and moved it from Massachusetts when he was three. It took a big excavating machine to move it 27 years later! I was worried it wouldn't make it, but it's blooming! (Jim thinks I'm going to let him trim it this afternoon - ha! Left to his own devices it would be in the shape of a lollipop when he's done.)

I'm not sure how much we'll actually get done. I'll be happy if we just get the soil ready and I can plant tomorrow. We'll see. The kids will be home for the day - what more could a Mom want?